Irish Dialect Frequently Asked Questions

We
highly recommend looking atThe
Dialect Guide, a source we enjoyed using (with permission)
in the production of these answers.

We get a large number of emails asking questions about the different dialects
featured on whoohoo.co.uk, and so we have compiled a brief list of our most frequently
asked Irish dialect questions:

Who uses this dialect?

This is the speech of Irish of all classes.

How do you pronounce the Irish dialect?

This is an incredibly musical dialect. It has both a strong lilt and a fair
amount of breathiness to it. Imagine a young lass dancing on her way home
from school, knowing that there's a market fair that weekend. The sound is
generated higher up in the mouth than Standard American. The lilt is created
by having the vowels end at a lower pitch than they begin (see the suond changes,
below).

Where in Ireland does your translator's vocabulary come from?

In reality there are almost as many variations in Irish dialects as in English.
Ulstermen speak very differently from Dubliners, for example. The dialect
presented here is a sort of Generic Stage Irish, and should not be taken as
representative of the speech of all Irish-speakers.

Can you offer a mini pronounciation guide to help us speak with an Irish
accent?

The following pointers might help you hone down your Irish accent - MP3 files
with examples of these phrases can be found at The
Dialect Guide, an excellent source to help you with your pronounciation.

The 'ah' sound in words like "father" is stretched out.

The shirt 'a' sound in words like "map" and "glass"
softens almost into an 'ah' sound.

The 'oi' sound in words like "point" moves toward a long 'i,'
as in "find."

The 'uh' sound in words like "love" and "pub" become
a short 'oo,' as in "book."

The long 'i' sound in words like "fight" rounds a bit. Be careful
not to take it too far into an 'oi' sound!

Similarly, the 'ow' sound in words like "town" is rounded. Again,
take care not to drift too far.

The long vowels - 'a' in "play," 'o' in "go," "oo"
in "spoon," and 'e' in "feed," - are all elongated.

The 'r' sound has a very hard quality to it.

The 'l' sound is always very strongly articulated.

The final 'g' is dropped in words like "ending."

Why not translate your phrase into a different dialect? Click on one of the other
options on the left!